


Graveside Recollection

by CarrieBaby37



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 14:19:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16766824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarrieBaby37/pseuds/CarrieBaby37
Summary: Draco visits Fred's grave every week. This week, he recalls when his mindset changed, or rather WHO changed it.





	Graveside Recollection

**Author's Note:**

> I do NOT own Harry Potter.

It was a warm day in July. A soft wind was blowing through the few trees that scattered the cemetery. Hunched above one of the graves was a boy with blonde hair. 

Draco kneeled on the grave with both hands grasped on the headstone. Violent sobs escaped from his lips and his body jerked as each raw emotion broke through the wall he had held high for so long. He apologized profusely to the gravestone, wishing he could go back in time and change it all. 

"Do you know what made me see how wrong I was?" he asked the carved stone. "It was her! I was taught that she was a mudblood! She was filthy, ugly, tainted, and worthless. I was so wrong." He paused as a few more sobs left his lips. "She was so beautiful that day, you know? I'm sure you know. You saw. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. How could something so 'inferior' be so stunning?" 

He stood, only long enough to walk behind the stone, then sat with his back resting against it. He recalled a few more memories, sharing them with the grave behind him. 

"She was so damn infuriating! How could a muggleborn, with no background knowledge, beat me in every subject? It was maddening. I was tutored before Hogwarts. I was taught for years before she even knew she was a witch. Yet there she was, always top of the class. She was so intelligent. How could she be inferior to me if she was better than I was?"

He silently pondered the answer to his own question when a soft chuckle emerged from his lips. "Did you know she punched me? Sure did. That was third year. That was one thing I always admired about her. Though I'd hex you before I would admit it. She was so loyal and caring. She cared about an animal...an animal! She cared as if its life was just as equal as ours. And don't even get me started on her silly S.P.E.W. project. She'll never know that I was the one who made that large donation last year." 

He sighed as he looked up to the sky. "I remember the worst memory I have of her. It was the day she was brought to the Manor. She had been tortured. I watched on. I didn't even try to help her. I was a coward. Then something caught my attention. I saw her arm where the word was carved into her skin. She had been bleeding. And you know what? Her blood looks just like mine! Dirty blood." He scoffed. "There wasn't anything dirty about it! Everything I was raised to believe was a lie. She showed me that, and she doesn't even know."

He stood again. This time he walked back to the front of the headstone. He conjured some flowers and laid them on the grave, plucking away the ones he left the week before. This had become his weekly habit. He would come to see Fred Weasley. A boy he never really knew, yet felt so much comfort with opening up to. Even if the boy would never know. He flinched at the thought. Another innocent life lost. He lifted his head and turned to walk away when he heard her voice. 

"I forgive you." 

He turned and saw her shadow, leaning against the willow tree. He recognized the frizzy mop of hair instantly. A grin barely graced his face as he nodded in her direction before he watched as she turned and strutted into the distance. He didn't know, that Hermione Granger also visited the grave of young Fred Weasley every week as well. He felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulder as the girl disappeared into the wind. He no longer saw her as inferior, but as an equal. With those thoughts, he apparated home, his heart finally at peace.


End file.
